Brands secures German Davis Cup playoff win

ULM, Germany— Daniel Brands secured Germany’s Davis Cup World Group place for another year by beating Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci for an unassailable 3-1 lead in their playoff on Sunday.

On his Davis Cup singles debut, Brands defeated the top-ranked Brazilian 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 to ensure the hosts won the best-of-five match series.

Brands says “I’m just happy that I got the third point.”

The 26-year-old Brands was playing in place of Philipp Kohlschreiber, who withdrew due to stomach problems.

The Germans missed the chance to secure the result Saturday, when Brands and Martin Emmrich lost to Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares in the doubles match.

Kohlschreiber and Florian Meyer won the opening singles matches on Friday.

Rogerio Dutra Silva was play to Meyer later Sunday in the final singles match.

Lopez gives

Spain 4-0 lead

In Madrid, Marc Lopez beat Denys Molchanov 6-3, 6-3, on Sunday to increase Spain’s winning margin to 4-0 over Ukraine in their Davis Cup World Group playoff.

Lopez had paired with Rafael Nadal to win Saturday’s doubles match over Molchanov and Sergiy Stakhovsky and build an unassailable 3-0 advantage for the hosts.

Lopez won his second point in two days by breaking Molchanov four times while only ceding his serve once.

He also limited his unforced errors on the Caja Magica outdoor red clay to 11, compared to Molchanov’s 37. /AP